Holy crap that game development sounds like it had a really tough time and brought upon by the inexperience like you said. Found some conversations with the co-founder after the game was cancelled

the game did not retain enough players to have any hope of becoming a business and it wasn’t a question of marketing - any money we spent on marketing would have been wasted…

it was not growing organically in alpha people would come in, and play for a bit, and then quit … i’m not even saying we needed high growth like, remember when the alpha launched we had something like 500-1000 people online the first several days … but 4 weeks later we were nowhere near 500-1000 the kind of business we bet the company on requires a game like, say, tf2, where its what, 9 years old or something and there’s still hundreds of thousands of players and it probably hasn’t had a single dollar of marketing spend

Absolutely crazy and absurd level of expectations lol. I imagine there wasn’t a single PR or marketing person in the company that could explain to them why. Seems like a lot of hubris which stopped them from finishing the development process and wanted immediate success and fandom.

edit: words hard

Without knowing any details I can only speculate but 10 years is a lot of time to refine your experience and expertise in a field. Do you remember what game it was and why it didn’t amount to anything?

Here’s a short animated Ted Talk about co-ops without CEO’s. Decisions can be decided by the workers, I think there’s some disconnect on what you’re imagining a CEO is. If you’re needing to make decisions everyday for the company to work… well you’re looking at something like Twitter which isn’t a stable company in a lot of ways. The video goes on to explain how co-ops operate and perform successfully through the centuries and a good starting point if you haven’t been introduced to the business model before.

Managers or “presidents” do exist, but the big difference is their role is to implement the decisions made by the group and does away with the usual power structure that influences and hurts the workers (usually through wage theft like the record bonuses CEO’s collect while making decisions for the share holders, not the consumers or employees).

I can only go off of what information is presented in the policy and will try to avoid speculation about the anti-cheat software or monitoring programs that they use.

Your contact information/identifiers, such as your name, your gamer id, mailing address, email address, employer, primary language, country, social media credentials. preferred games and date of birth. If you contact us by telephone, we will also retain your telephone number.

Your device and browsing information, including non-personally identifiable information about your phone, tablet, computer or device and online browsing activity, which may be automatically collected. This may include IP addresses, unique identifiers, cookie identifiers, browser language, device and browser settings and broad location-based information, and internet service provider information. It may also include information about when and how you accessed and used our Sites, how you navigated to our Sites (such as the date and time of your visit), the links you clicked, the websites you visited before and after our Sites, and what you searched for while on our Sites.

Analytics & Interest-Based Ads. We partner with third parties (like sponsors, content providers, and analytics companies) to help us improve our Services and better understand how you interact with them, as well as to support our marketing initiatives and ad campaigns. These companies may collect info from you automatically in connection with your visit.

edit: format

I’ve definitely skimmed before without actually reading everything but after the car tracking and anti-cheat buzz I’ve been more aware so it is helpful. I just don’t understand why a game would need to collect your medical information and personal property records. Just completely insane and never seen anything like it but have probably agreed to it in the past without knowing it.

I could also see them banning outside links for patreon etc if they’re trying to take over that space and get a cut. Huh, guess they’re not happy just getting money from user content, they might feel like they deserve part of the creator’s profits as well.

I mean, that’s a sweet position if the safety nets actually helped. Just kinda lame you have the same attitude as a 1%-er about it which just points to trolling. Would rather my taxes go to housing someone than war manufacturing or price gouging by corporate companies.

Currently looking for a new 4x game that will scratch my itch. Been going through tons but they all seem like watered down versions that “simplify” the process. Last game I played was SpaceEmpires (4&5), completely addicting but after over a decade of bugged games I’ve just completely given up on it. Definitely got my playtime out of it though, great game regardless.

You do realize you don’t “own” anything on Steam right? Every dollar you give them is towards a “subscription” to play the game.

something doesn’'t feel right…

I can’t see the message they replied to because the creator deleted it but I’m not getting what you’re saying and people are upvoting you so there must be something I’m missing. Are you guys buying pc parts with pre-installed OS on them? If it’s used than you’re using the original OS you received the part with?

Yeah does anyone else wonder if this screams of incompetence from upper management? OP was ONLY able to get the disks, RAM, CPUs and Network Card. Sounds like someone higher up gave the “ok” just thinking the “Server” frame was the important part security wise. It would be an interesting scenario to see if the data center was able to upgrade the system while keeping all of the base components compatible and everything under cost or if this was just a screw up.

All valid points made in an academic setting. I think the general consensus, and the points other users are trying to make, involve more transparency and proper presenting of the facts in their statements. I have parroted the “oh you should try proton, they’re more private and secure” to other people. This is a factual but misleading statement without the nuance of higher OPSEC fundamentals.

Just look at their main landing page for proton mail.

• Proton Mail’s end-to-end encryption and zero-access encryption ensure only you can see your emails. Not even Proton can view the content of your emails and attachments.

• Proton Mail protects you from these digital spies and prevents companies from monitoring you.

• your data is protected by some of the world’s strictest privacy laws.

• From newsrooms, activists, and international organizations to academics, Nobel Prize winners, and movie characters, Proton Mail is the trusted choice for secure and private communication. Join over 100 million people worldwide who believe their online privacy is worth protecting.

A common user will look at this and believe that by just having this account, they will be protected. There is no asterisk* beside e-mail recovery explaining the dangers of linking to another e-mail. In fact, a lot of their services promote linking e-mail because you can’t use third party verification if you haven’t setup your recovery e-mail and/or cell phone verification. I ran into this trying to help an older relative who’s paranoid about online accounts, ended up being more hoops and they were dissuaded because it always come down to “enter more information to continue…privately ;)”

The front landing page should have a section explaining everything that’s being said here with vpn’s, alternative e-mails, and how to really protect yourself with anonymity. To a lot of people, Private+Secure=Anonymous. It’s not accurate, but unless you already know the things you have to do to protect your identity, it’s not very clear on what the average person should do.

Fiber is a sore subject lol, it was a big local deal when fiber was coming to town with newspaper articles and everything about the big development and how great everything was gonna be with the upgrade in speed. Lots of crews all over the county for months (maybe years? time is fickle) and even had them running the lines on my street and a relatives on the other side of the main town. Turns out they decided to not actually make fiber available for the area, it’s just running through. I understand you can’t just splice into fiber lol, still irks me I have a box I can’t touch or move with “Fiber” labelled on it sitting on the property though and have to deal with cable internet that runs like it’s a DSL connection.

With wired Ethernet to every room, would something of this type of connection be aesthetically pleasing? I would like to bundle everything so there’s not an excessive amount of wall plates and others have suggested running two lines in parallel with STP cat6a (cat8 will probably be saved for the next place if it has fiber available). I’m just worried about the look of having several wall jacks or several unknown connections that might confuse someone (I will label everything but that only goes so far for understanding). If I include coaxial it might look a little like this style of outlet if I’m not running two ethernet ports. I’m starting to lean into the coaxial/single ethernet just because cable/satellite tv is still king around these parts and people love their boxes.

If you had to have a modem box for internet with coaxial or DSL, would you prefer that tucked away into the server closet as well? or keep that in a separate area with the phone connections and just run an ethernet from the modem to the server closet where the router and switch setup are at?

The only problem with that is if you’re pumping air out you have to think about where the air is coming in from. Older fireplaces are notorious for this because any air escaping through the chimney has to be replaced usually resulting in the rest of the house becoming actually colder through air gaps/cracks. Newer built houses even have ductwork for controlled air introduction when using exhaust fans like the range hood over the stove to maintain relative pressures with energy efficient houses (this house is nowhere near that level yet, but once newer windows are installed and I can seal the outlets I replace/install it will be one step closer).

One thought I did have is running the HVAC return through the area, it would reduce the relative humidity of the house as I’ve already installed several dehumidifiers for the closed crawl spaces I’ve sealed up and insulated but this whole geographical area is just horrible (/s about the servers being a dehumidifier, but realistically the equipment has to have some type of impact even if 1% lol) . Nearly every house I’ve worked on has some type of moisture issue but home owners typically don’t care unless it becomes life-threatening or threatens the structure. My thoughts on the return is so cold air isn’t directly blasted into the area as the dramatic temperature change might introduce condensation, the calculations for the CFM (airflow) have to be exact though so I’m not killing any systems early. The house has an old A/C system with an oil heating system (also has propane and electrical heating in other locations, idk if the person before me had a thing for collecting all the systems but it’s rather insane), the a/c doesn’t cover the entire structure though so I either have to think about replacing the entire setup (it is rather old but looks well maintained surprisingly) or milking the old system while installing a secondary hvac system for the unconditioned areas (mainly 2nd floor, plenty of attic space to install it which will probably be sealed as well if I do).

You definitely hit on a great idea though, I was planning on installing a secondary thermostat in the server area. If I did a return through and set it to active the hvac system fan when a temperature threshold is reached, in the winter it would disperse the heat through the house and I wouldn’t have to worry about the system switching from A/C to Heat or how I would continue to cool an area now getting hot air directly pumped into it. Then in the summer the air returning would be directly cooled when necessary and released back into the house so I’m not worrying about another outside vent opening requiring filters that need to be replaced/inspected etc. Might be able to pull off the airflow requirements with something as simple as a slotted closet door a lot of bedrooms have. I would be concerned someone might replace the door one day without realizing it’s importance so maybe dedicated wall venting into the server area is safer, even if it looked worse.

Oh nice! I had home assistant on my radar from other open source threads I read but hadn’t run across the site link or realized they have smart hubs for sale with it. I’ve been hesitant with the automation setup because of the complications you mentioned. I imagined the high priced homes/condos with automated systems probably came with a subscription service for customer support with the equipment installed but wasn’t sure if that assumption was right. If I can pull the same thing off with an open source project that’s reliable and has custom equipment built for it then maybe it’s worth looking into after all.

lol I’ve seen that before and sympathize every time I see my router log filled with my partners apple devices doing their thing. I’m slowly convincing them to move away from it all with suitable replacements I find along the way.

cheep Chinese ip cameras that have poe and are blocked from the internet

That’s a good point. I’ve been introduced to those systems with some installs and was avoiding anything that connected to a server not under my control even if it’s more complicated (completely wigs me out people are complacent with some unknown server recording EVERYTHING). I hadn’t looked into “dumbing” the cameras to take advantage of their lower price points, much like you can buy a smart tv but avoid it’s connectivity to use it more privately and without bloatware. Been sporadically searching security systems the past few weeks so I’ll have to double down and keep that perspective in mind.

and here I thought I was being excessive with thinking about conduit. There is a large unfinished basement that mostly everything in it was destroyed from a flood. After I ripped everything out, installed a new stairwell, and ran new drainage to avoid the next eventual flood (as all lower elevations like to do), I was pondering running conduit for everything to protect from moisture in that area for at the very least some high wall outlets to power systems down there. I could scale that plan back and not have everything being conduit (for cost sake) but install it in specific spots for anything that won’t have easy access in the future. I know of a few spots that will need new lines ran through 3 floors so the pull cables would come in handy for future use.

a dedicated UPS circuit so I could have a single, large UPS to backup everything that needs it

That’s beautiful and didn’t cross my mind. I’ve done solar installs so my mind always just thinks of that type of battery bank for my needs, that’s definitely a viable alternative that I could tie into the cctv system for continuous security as well without adding extra systems. I’ve only had a small “pc” UPS that crapped out on me years ago but I see they’re scalable so I will entertain myself looking at some specs while pondering.